Biggest Mafia in Colombia Puts $70,000 Hit on Drug-Sniffing Dog

Biggest Mafia in Colombia Puts $70,000 Hit on Drug-Sniffing Dog

Sombra has sniffed out meary 10 tons of cocaine belonging to Columbia's Urabenos cartel. National Police of Colombia

The biggest and most brutal drug cartel in Colombia has placed a $70,000 hit on the head of a German shepherd named Sombra, a drug-sniffing K9 with an unusually sensitive nose.

Sombra, which is Spanish for Shadow, has found nearly 10 tons of the Urabenos' cocaine, which prompted the country's most powerful organized crime regime to put out a hit on the dog.

To protect the prized pup, the Colombian National Police moved Sombra from doing coastal patrols to the inland city of Bogota, where she now works in the capital's international airport.

The dog is credited with the arrest of 245 suspects and is a national hero in Colombia, where adults and children often take selfies with their arms wrapped around Sombra's furry neck.

While working the port of Turbo, she discovered four tons of cocaine stashed in a shipment of car parts. She also found another delivery of coke hidden inside a machine.

The feared Urabenos cartel once offered $500 to anyone who killed a police officer, authorities said. So to put a $70,000 price on Sombra's head shows how much the notorious gang fears one dog, police said.